Chapter 2: What Was Inside the Water
Calhoun moved before I did.
He crossed the patio in four steps and plunged his arm into the pool, grabbing at the soggy wrapping paper.
But it was already too late.
The wet paper had split completely open, and something dark and flat was floating on the surface.
A photograph.
I reached in and pulled it out before he could.
It was a picture of Baxter.
Taken from a distance.
Outside his school.
My hands started shaking.
"Where did this come from?" I turned to Hester.
"Who sent this?"
Hester was still on the ground, cake in her hair, but she was smiling.
"Ask your husband."
I looked at Calhoun.
He wouldn't meet my eyes.
"Calhoun."
Nothing.
"CALHOUN."
He finally looked up.
And the expression on his face was not guilt.
It was fear.
The kind that only appears when someone knows something terrible is about to come out.
Baxter was still crying behind me, his paper crown crushed in the grass.
Hester slowly got to her feet, wiped her face, and said quietly:
"That boy has never been safe.
And you never even noticed."
The backyard was still silent.
May you like
Then Calhoun's phone rang.
He looked at the screen — and his face went completely white.
